Affirmative Action Argumentative Essay

The article illustrates that the affirmative action policy favors minority members, females and economically disadvantaged people. The focus of the affirmative action policy is to remove discrimination and achieve diversity. The central aspect of research revolves around people that have been discriminated. The policy helps individuals that are qualified candidates for positions of one group over the other.

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

Affirmative Action is a policy aimed to improving educational and employment opportunities for African Americans, women and other minorities. Affirmative Action is significant because it has been effective for allowing the underrepresented to obtain career and educational goals. Many African Americans were admitted into predominately white schools and careers due to Affirmative Action. Affirmative action programs play a critically important role in the black experience in America because they originated as techniques designed to promote equality for blacks after equal opportunity techniques alone proved inadequate to secure equality for blacks. The use of these programs led to more black presence or representation in some national institutions,

According to Newman, affirmative action is a “program designed to seek out members of minority groups for positions from which they had previously been excluded, thereby seeking to overcome some institutional racism” (Newman, 536). Affirmative action made its debut with a piece of legislature passed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and continues to this day. However, the concept of affirmative action is a controversial issue that continues to be hotly debated.

Affirmative action is a policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination of minorities through active measures in order to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment. In other words, it is policy that was established to hopefully eliminate racial preference and equalize the United States. The fight against discrimination has been a long lasting one that started with the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, which ended in the desegregation of all schools (Ficker). Affirmative action was put into place in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Executive Order that mandated government contractors to “take affirmative action” in all aspects of hiring and employing minorities (Brunner). Upon its arrival, the policy

The affirmative action program is important because it gives job opportunities for many people regardless of their race, color, religion, gender, and national origin. The work force should be well represented by the different ethnic backgrounds of our society. Some people look at affirmative action as reverse discrimination, but this program doesn’t guarantee employment based on race, ethnicity, or gender. The affirmative action program gives equal consideration to individuals from a different race, ethnicity, or gender, but not one of these factors may be the only factor used to determine an individual’s qualifications for any job.

Affirmative Action remains one of the more complicated and controversial topics dealt with in American society. Affirmative Action is an action or policy designed to protect specific groups who suffer from discrimination, and provide them with programs and special opportunities. These government or private programs were designed to set right historical injustices towards the members of these groups who have suffered things like employment and educational disadvantages from racial discrimination. The goal for these actions are to redress past wrong doings by fixing things like inequalities in employment and pay, as well as increasing opportunities for education. By achieving this, the outcome would restore equal access and opportunity in favor of the members of these groups. These groups generally consist of certain minorities that have suffered from social ills such as slavery and segregation.

The US is a melting pot with various groups of immigration such as: Asian American, Jewish American, African American, and Mexican Ame. Minority groups have experienced many kinds of segregation. They are discriminated in education and employment. Then, a program called “Affirmative Action” was introduced with the hope to engage more people of color into the society.

The purpose of affirmative action is to ensure equal opportunity for minorities. But it has strayed from its original intent and has become largely a program to achieve not equal opportunity but equal results. It is a system of quotas forced upon American businesses and working class by the federal government. A law which forces people to look at race before looking at the individual cannot promote equal opportunity. Affirmative action continues the judgement of minorities by race; it causes reverse discrimination, and contradicts its purpose.

“In 1961, John F. Kennedy signed a form made by Executive Order...that states that no one is allowed to discriminate anyone that is an employee or applicant. This included talking about race, creed, color, national origin, or people with disabilities” (Affirmative Action). Otherwise, it would cause termination in their job at any point in time. This was called an Affirmative Action Law. This law also included two other laws called, “the Disability Act and Civil Rights Act” (What Is Affirmative Action and Why Was It Created?) which protected those who have disabilities, regular people, or people who served in the army from being discriminated.

Affirmative Action has not proven very successful in countering the evils of racism, either, where it is entrenched, for some human beings will forever view Affirmative Action as a form of racism that happens to discriminate against white male persons. Indeed, in some instances, Affirmative Action has been showed to function as a form of exclusive discrimination, all its own, as in the realization that white male applicants to the University of California at Berkeley had been penalized by the presence of the university's long dedication to Affirmative Action. (Rosin: 1995)

Take for example the story of Allan Bakke. The white student who possessed higher grades and test scores than a great percentage of other applicants. Bakke was denied admission into University of California's medical school simply because the board set aside sixteen positions out of 100, strictly for minorities. After taking the university to court the ruling was that Bakke be admitted into the University, regardless of ethnicity, which brings forth another idea. The programs that have been initiated throughout the United States within

Affirmative action means taking positive steps to end discrimination, to prevent its recurrence, and to creative new opportunities that were previously denied minorities and women.

     For many years, people have presumed that Affirmative Action has played and continues to play a vital and important role in the lives of most minorities . However, some people have raised questions about the effectiveness of Affirmative Action. Since it's conception, it has been believed that in some instances, Affirmative Action has been more harmful then helpful. One may ask the question, is Affirmative Action really worth fighting for? Some may argue, that if it had not been for Affirmative Action, the minority unemployment rate would be much higher.

Affirmative action is an attempt to address past discriminatory injustices which may be based on gender, race or ethnicity. Affirmative action may take the form of policies and programs which are mostly mandated by governments and designed to bring changes in organizations, companies and educational institutions. Affirmative action is a vital tool which provides qualified people with equal access to educational or professional opportunities that they would otherwise have been denied despite them having strong qualifications (Kranz, 2002)